Genocide, war crimes and the conflict in Bosnia: understanding the perpetrators

Abstract

What makes “ordinary” people with no previous criminal record suddenly commit brutal acts of violence? With the possible exception of Nazi war criminals, perpetrators have often been overlooked. Focusing on the particular case of Bosnia and Hercegovina (BiH), this article aims to demonstrate why research on perpetrators of genocide and war crimes is important, to highlight the limitations of personality-based explanations and to illustrate the complexity of perpetrator behaviour. It argues that perpetrator-focused research, both in BiH and more broadly, can be justified on a combination of moral, cognitive and practical grounds; it emphasizes the importance of circumstances as an explanation for perpetrator conduct; and it suggests that Staub's concept of a “continuum of destruction” might be re-conceptualized as a sliding scale, to better reflect the fact that a perpetrator's behaviour can rapidly fluctuate between acts of cruelty and kindness. It draws upon research on génocidaires in Rwanda, documents from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)—in particular sentencing judgements—statements made by ICTY defendants, and the author's own interview data.